Handwashing and H1N1—Does it Work?

Sometime during early September, I and my fellow Hachetties were assaulted with Sanitation 101 on the 45th floor. Updated measures included a bevy of hand sanitizer dispensers wall-propped outside each exit and instructional notes taped to the bathroom wall re: how to both wash and "rotationally rub" your hands. And, apparently, we're not the only Swine Flu-ophobes in town. It seems schools and companies everywhere are following general health policy recommendations to "wash your hands frequently" (some schools have implemented an "every 45 minutes" rule). Now, though, it's being argued that the world's new-found habit, though cleanly, might not be doing much to slow the spread of H1N1 at all.

Advertisement - Continue Reading Below

According to the Center for Disease Control, washing hands does help prevent the spread of the common cold, whose virus, the rhinovirus, lives nicely intact on someone's hand for some time. The flu virus, however, thrives in droplets of water or mucus (such as the kind that come out of your nose and mouth), which if ten times larger than the virus provides a stable enough environment for the lipid membrane to remain intact, according to Dr. Peter Palese, a professor of medicine at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in NYC. In that case, the flu virus is much more likely to jump bodies via a sneeze rather than a handshake.

Most Popular

Health officials seem to agree that though hand washing won't do any harm, of course, the emphasis, in terms of preventing the spread of the flu virus specifically, should remain on staying home when you're sick and covering your mouth when you cough or sneeze. There is, however, proof that over hand-sanitizing (with hand sanitizer opposed to soap and water) may cause your hands to attract more bacteria than they would otherwise. To read up on that, and other surprisingly unhealthy healthy habits, click here.